Small solids embedded in gaseous protoplanetary disks are subject to strong dust-gas friction. Consequently, tightly coupled dust particles almost follow the gas flow. This near conservation of the dust-to-gas ratio along streamlines is analogous to the near conservation of entropy along flows of (dust-free) gas with weak heating and cooling. We develop this thermodynamic analogy into a framework to study dusty gas dynamics in protoplanetary disks. We show that an isothermal dusty gas behaves like an adiabatic pure gas, and that finite dust-gas coupling may be regarded as effective heating/cooling. We exploit this correspondence to deduce that (1) perfectly coupled, thin dust layers cannot cause axisymmetric instabilities; (2) radial dust edges are unstable if the dust is vertically well-mixed; (3) the streaming instability necessarily involves a gas pressure response that lags behind dust density; and (4) dust-loading introduces buoyancy forces that generally stabilize the vertical shear instability associated with global radial temperature gradients. We also discuss dusty analogs of other hydrodynamic processes (e.g., Rossby wave instability, convective overstability, and zombie vortices) and how to simulate dusty protoplanetary disks with minor tweaks to existing codes for pure gas dynamics.

The reflection of the X-rays emitted from a corona of energetic particles surrounding an accreting black hole from the accretion disc is investigated in the context of probing the structure of the central regions as well as the physical processes that power some of the brightest objects seen in the Universe. A method is devised to measure the emissivity profile of the accretion disc, that is the reflected flux as a function of radius in the disc. This method exploits the variation in the Doppler and gravitational redshift of emission from different radii in the disc to fit the observed reflection spectrum as the sum of contributions from successive radii and is applied to X-ray spectra of the narrow line Seyfert 1 galaxies 1H 0707-495, IRAS 13224-3809 and MCG-6-30-15 as well as the Galactic X-ray binary, Cygnus X-1. This illumination pattern of the accretion disc is a sensitive probe of the geometry of the corona that is illuminating the disc. A formalism is developed in which systematic ray tracing simulations can be run between X-ray emitting coronae and the accretion disc for a range of source geometries and other physical parameters, allowing observable data products to be simulated that can be directly compared to data from astrophysical black holes, in order to determine how these parameters affect the observed data, allowing them to be constrained observationally. The measured emissivity profiles are found to be in agreement with those expected theoretically and it is also discovered that the measured emissivity profile can be used to determine the radial extent of the X-ray emitting corona above the accretion disc. The X-ray emitting coronae are located and their radial extents constrained in 1H 0707-495, IRAS 13224-3809 and MCG-6-30-15, while the insight gained into accretion disc emissivity profiles from ray tracing simulations allows the low flux state that 1H 0707-495 was seen to drop in to in January 2011 to be explained in terms of a collapse of the X-ray emitting corona to a confined region around the central black hole. The rapid variability of the X-ray emission from accreting black holes is exploited in the use of reverberation time lags, where variability in the continuum is seen to lead that in its reflection from the accretion disc, to measure the distances between the X-ray emitting corona and the reflector. Ray tracing calculations are developed to simulate lag spectra that can be measured in X-ray observations to provide a means of constraining the extent and geometry of the corona, complimentary to the use of the emissivity profiles. Combining these methods, the X-ray emitting coronae are constrained to extend radially outward a few tens of gravitational radii over the accretion disc, while extending vertically a few gravitational radii above the plane of the disc. Furthermore, it is demonstrated how measured lag spectra can be used to understand the propagation of luminosity fluctuations through the extent of the corona and techniques are developed for analysing energy-resolved variability analysis that will be possible with future generations of X-ray telescopes. Finally, these methods, along with theoretical insight gained form ray tracing simulations, are applied to X-ray spectra extracted from 1H 0707-495 during periods of low and high flux during the observations. Evidence is found for the expansion of the corona along with a drop in the average energy density as the X-ray luminosity increases followed by its contraction as the luminosity decreases on timescales of hours.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(理学) / 甲第22251号 / 理博第4565号 / 新制||理||1655(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院理学研究科物理学・宇宙物理学専攻 / (主査)教授 嶺重 慎, 准教授 前田 啓一, 教授 長田 哲也 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・論文博士 / 博士(理学) / 乙第12813号 / 論理博第1539号 / 新制||理||1577(附属図書館) / 31300 / (主査)教授 嶺重 慎, 准教授 前田 啓一, 教授 長田 哲也 / 学位規則第4条第2項該当 / Doctor of Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(理学) / 甲第20919号 / 理博第4371号 / 新制||理||1627(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院理学研究科物理学・宇宙物理学専攻 / (主査)教授 嶺重 慎, 准教授 前田 啓一, 教授 太田 耕司 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Science / Kyoto University / DGAM

No description available.

No description available.

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(理学) / 甲第23705号 / 理博第4795号 / 新制||理||1686(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院理学研究科物理学・宇宙物理学専攻 / (主査)教授 嶺重 慎, 准教授 前田 啓一, 准教授 野上 大作 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

In this thesis, an assessment is made of the value of optical CMDs as a useful diagnostic of the accretion properties of young stars. An analysis has been made of the phenomena that we observe and their effect on the position of stars in the CMD. Limitations and potential biases have been identified and evaluated. Variability causes some luminosity spread at a given colour in optical CMDs. A detailed characterisation of variability has been performed which places strong constraints on the magnitudes and the timescales on which the variability is seen. On timescales 15 minutes, almost no variability is detected (at levels greater than ≈ 0.2%) in the i band for a sample of ≈ 700 disc-bearing young stellar objects (YSOs). This suggests that the variability predicted by some accretion shock models is either very weak or not present. On hours to days timescales the optical variability in most stars is well described by a simple power law. The amplitude of the variability, a ∝ f−k, where f is the frequency of the variability in days. Disc-bearing and discless YSOs exhibit median values of k of 0.85 ± 0.02 and 0.95 ± 0.03 respectively, the uncertainity being the error on the median. The power law is valid up to a certain timescale (tmax) at which point the variability amplitude does not increase any further. tmax is found to be 1.50 ± 0.07 days and 1.41 ± 0.10 days for disc-bearing and discless stars respectively. Disc-bearing stars show greater variability amplitudes than the discless stars. However, it is notable that the variability timescale and power spectrum exponent are remarkably similar. This implies that the amplitude of the variability is driven by the physics of the underlying process, but that the timescales are instead driven by geometric effects. For disc-bearing stars, the highest amplitude variables are the accreting stars, which often appear to vary in the CMD along lines that correspond to changes in accretion luminosity. Four disc-bearing stars (approximately 0.5% of the disc-bearing sample) in Cep OB3b show extreme variability on timescales of years. Three (possible EXor candidates), show long-timescale changes that have a dramatic effect on their CMD position. However their small numbers mean that the overall impact on the CMDs of young associations is small. Variability on timescales of the rotational period and shorter adds uncertainty to age estimates of individual stars that are calculated by comparison with PMS models. Having provided a detailed description of variability and its impact on the CMD, it is clear that there are further significant mechanisms that affect the positions of YSOs in the CMD. I show that the spread in luminosity seen in the Orion Nebula Cluster and NGC 2264 could not be explained by accretion at rates of M ̇ ≥ 5 × 10−4 M⊙ yr−1 occurring within the protostellar phase of YSO evolution. Thus it appears that CMDs are not a useful diagnostic for study of the accretion histories of YSOs. The wavelength dependence of the extinction by dust within the inner regions of YSO discs is shown to differ from that seen in the ISM. Typically the wavelength dependence of the extinction is given by RV ≈5-8, compared with the value of RV ≈3.1 typical of the ISM. The interpretation is that grain growth has occurred. The location of this material within the ‘snow line’ implies that grains have coalesced rather than simply gaining an ice mantle. This is evidence for the beginning of planet formation. The effect of the high value of RV on the CMD is to add additional uncertainty of 0.1 mag to photometric measurements that have been corrected for the effects of extinction. Accretion luminosity is shown to be the dominant signal in the luminosity spread seen in CMDs of young associations. Stars which exhibit excess flux in the U band or Hα are displaced in CMD space. The accretion vector is shown to be a significant blueward shift in colour accompa- nied by a modest brightening in the g, g − i CMD. Accretion results in a luminosity spread as stars are displaced blueward below the PMS locus. This effect is not seen in non-accreting disc-bearing stars. Examination of the underlying excess luminosity spectrum for 15 accreting stars shows that the colour of the emission excess is not consistent across the sample. Thus to quantify the effect of accretion luminosity on CMD positions for individual stars, moderate resolution spectra are required with a large range in wavelength. This accretion luminosity may systematically bias estimates of PMS ages. A simple mitigation is to exclude accreting stars from age analysis. U band and Hα flux excesses are shown to vary independently by ≈ 1 dex on timescales shorter than the rotation period of the star. The relation between U band flux excess and veiling at 7000Å also appears to be variable. This implies that single epoch measurements of these parameters will add an uncertainty of ≈ 1 dex on accretion rates derived from them. Accretion rates derived from either U or Hα excess should be calculated from a mean of several photometric measurements, separated by significant fractions of the rotation period of the star. In most stars, the veiling at 7000Å is shown not to be a good measure for the calculation of the accretion rate. Despite providing a detailed characterisation of phenomena that influence the positions of YSOs in the CMD, there exists some residual luminosity spread at a given Teff that cannot be explained by variability on any timescale, extinction uncertainties or accretion luminosity. This residual spread should provide an opportunity to study an as-yet uncharacterised aspect of young stars.

We present new models for two low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXB), 4U 1822-371 and V1408 Aql (= 4U 1957+115). The eclipsing LMXB 4U 1822-371 is the prototypical accretion disk corona (ADC) system. We have obtained new time-resolved UV spectroscopy of 4U 1822-371 with the Advanced Camera for Surveys/Solar Blind Channel on the Hubble Space Telescope and new V- and J- band photometry with the 1.3-m SMARTS telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory. We use the new data to construct the UV/optical spectral energy distribution of 4U 1822-371 and its orbital light curve in the UV, V , and J bands. We derive an improved ephemeris for the optical eclipses and confirm that the orbital period is changing rapidly, indicating extremely high rates of mass flow in the system; and we show that the accretion disk in the system has a strong wind with projected radial velocities up to 4400 km s⁻¹. We show that the disk has a vertically extended, optically thick component at optical wavelengths. This component extends almost to the edge of the disk and has a height equal to ~0.5 of the disk radius. As it has a low brightness temperature, we identify it as the optically thick base of the disk wind, not as the optical counterpart of the ADC. Like previous models of 4U 1822-371, ours needs a tall obscuring wall near the edge of the accretion disk, but we interpret the wall as a layer of cooler material at the base of the disk wind, not as a tall, luminous disk rim. V1408 Aql is a black hole candidate. We have obtained new optical photometry of this system in 2008 and 2009 with the Argos photometer on the 2.1-m Otto Struve telescope and optical spectra with the low resolution spectrometer on the Hobby Eberly telescope. From the data we derive an improved optical orbital ephemeris and a new geometric model for the system. The model uses only a simple thin disk without the need for a warped disk or a large disk rim. The orbital variation is produced by the changing aspect of the irradiated secondary star with orbital phase. The new model leaves the orbital inclination unconstrained and allows for inclinations as low as 20 degrees. The spectra is largely featureless continuum with He II and occasionally H[alpha] emission lines, and an absorption line from Na D. The lines are highly variable in strength and wavelength, but the variations do not correlate with orbital phase. / text